Session Information
13 SES 11, A Plea for Potentialism in Education
Symposium
Contribution
The idea of the new plays a central role in contemporary theories of education (e.g., Ranciere, 1991; Masschelein&Simons, 2013; Biesta, 2014). Here, the experience of the new itself (made possible through a particular relationship or encounter between teacher and students) serves as the rationale for an alternative to both traditional conceptions of education that aim at the realization of pre-conceived outcomes (preventing the new to emerge), and progressive conceptions that leave the students to their devices (depriving them of a chance to transcend their world). In spite of its prominent role in such alternative conceptions, however, what exactly the experience of the new entails, and what its educational value might be, remains underdeveloped. I intend to show how Agamben’s notion of infancy (2007) allows us to bring into clearer focus the constitutive features of the experience of the new, and its value. More specifically, I argue that the experience of the new is better understood as the ability to experience the new as such (what I call newability). Newability, I propose, should be seen as an essential (constitutive) feature of a potentialist conception of education.
References
- Agamben, G. (2007) Infancy and History: On the Destruction of Experience. New York: Verso - Biesta, G. (2014). The beautiful risk of education. Boulder (CO): Paradigm. - Masschelein, J., & Simons, M. (2013). In Defense of the School: A Public Issue. Leuven: E-ducation. Culture & Society Publishers. - Rancière, J. (1991). The ignorant schoolmaster. Trans. Kristin Ross. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
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